Eavesdropping for Research

I spent most of the day in a car with five 10 year-olds, driving in the pouring rain for a tour of the Capitol Building in Sacramento. It's always an enlightening experience spending that much time in a confined space (2 1/2 hours each way!) with kids that you're not related to. Well, one that you are related to, but who prefers to pretend otherwise. One of the girls actually brought a book to read - a fantasy novel that I'd never heard of. I started thinking what kind of book I could write that would get each kid to pick it up. For research, I started asking them. Sports, action-adventure, and fantasy were all high on the list. I couldn't pin them down any more than that, but it's a start.

Later this evening, I was standing in line at the pharmacy behind two high school girls. When they weren't texting or talking on the phone, it was really interesting to eavesdrop on their conversation. Want to know what it was? Which celebrities are pregnant and by whom. I started thinking what kind of book I could write that would keep them interested, and toying with some plot lines in my head.

I like this new exercise - what kind of book could I write that would get that kid to read it?

On this date: In 1938, production started on the Wizard of Oz.